Topic: PS3 Slim Disc Eject Noise

I know there's always risks in buying consoles used, but I bought one off of eBay. It was from a seller with really good feedback, so it's not as if there was huge risk involved. It works fine for the most part, although now after the disc drive working just fine for the first two or three times I've put in discs, it will try to read a disc, then make the disc eject noise, and then finally read the disc. I know there was a known issue where that would happen when the disc drive died and wouldn't read the disc at all. Mine still does after the disc eject noise, but I'm worried it's going to break at some point. Am I right to be concerned or should I just carry on and consider it a quirk and hope for the best? Yes, I know the latter is really the only option if I want to continue to use it, but I still asked anyways.

@KilloWertz Funnily enough, you're describing a quirk that's similar to one my PS5 has developed. About half the time, I'll put in a disc and on the console's menu, the little disc logo next to the game stays white, instead of detecting the disc and turning silver. When I then go to start the game, it tries and quickly boots me back to the console's menu, only now the little disc is silver. I start the game again, and all works fine. I know it's impossible for these issues to be connected, but it's one of those things that makes me worry every single time, and I suddenly feel like the room's getting warm.

If I were you, I'd hold out as best you can, if finding another used PS3 in your price range isn't an option. I'm assuming the eBay seller won't accept a return anyway (few do) so unless there's another way you can turn your current console into cash, I'd just keep your fingers crossed. Worst case scenario, you're gonna have to bust the thing open to retrieve a stuck disc at some point.

@RogerRoger That is a strange quirk. I do wonder at some point if it will eventually go and then you have to get it fixed since who knows when they will ever become readily available. If things were normal, you could just buy another. Expensive, but in some ways it makes sense if you have to pay to get it fixed. Anyways, like you said, we just have to tough it out and hope for the best.

Oddly enough, when I played Final Fantasy XIII this morning, the disc loaded like normal. I'll definitely never leave the disc in there again when I shut it off since it started doing it after I did that. I thought nothing of it since I do it with my PS5 all the time if I'm shutting it off for a little while and going back to it shortly again, but don't want to leave it running.

They would have, but it's well out of the 14 day return "policy" they have. I got it nearly a month ago, but didn't start using it semi-regularly until last week. Best case scenario if a disc does get stuck is if it happens while I'm still playing the game so I can at least finish it beforehand. I will be playing some games digitally on there as it's much cheaper to buy some games that are really hard to find physically, but obviously I want the disc drive to keep working since I did end up keeping a decent collection of PS3 games on disc when I sold my original PS3 (what a dummy).

@KilloWertz I take some comfort in the fact that Sony will still be making PS5s for many years and that, no matter how tricky it might be to secure one in an instant, securing a brand new replacement is still gonna be more viable than replacing a legacy console. It's why I feel for you regarding your PS3's disc drive issue, and why my heart always goes out to folks who're suffering with these kinds of problems. I dread the day my old tech fails. My PS2 has been on its last legs for a while now, bless it.

I'm glad Final Fantasy XIII seemed to be working okay for you yesterday. If I can give you one tip, it's that you should never, ever leave a disc inside a console when you power it down. I don't know exactly why, but doing that considerably shortens a disc drive's life span. Always remove your discs!

Hey, we all make decisions that feel right in the moment. I'm sure selling your original PS3 made sense when you did so, and at least you kept some of your physical games, so you don't have to spend even more rebuilding your collection (that'd get real expensive, I'd imagine, especially with so many older games having been de-listed and whatnot). Smart move grabbing a few digital bargains whilst you still can, before Sony shut down the PS3's PS Store altogether. I went on the other day, to re-download a few old purchases, and saw the big "you can't buy things here any more" warning. It's only a matter of time.

@RogerRoger @KilloWertz Do you chaps know if the eventual (presumably imminent) closure of the PS3 store will mean that updates for physical discs will become unavailable? I don't relish the prospect of cycling my entire collection through the PS3 console to ensure they're all up to date before the store gets shuttered. That would be a truly brain-numbing exercise.

@LN78 Given how incremental the shutdown has been thusfar, I'm sure that'll be one of the last things they deactivate, probably along with all online functionality at the very end. That'll be when they can finally stop maintaining the PS3 servers and free up capacity. When the plan changed from "turning off the PS Store completely" to "stopping folks from buying things direct from their consoles" after the initial outcry, it's clear that Sony shifted to a tiered approach, to make everything more publicly palatable. I'm sure (or at least, I hope) we get plenty of notice, so you'll have time to update your favourites, at least.

@RogerRoger That's somewhat reassuring. I spent a good chunk of last weekend updating all my Wii U games just in case those patches become undownloadable when that store goes down. What a chore that was!

@RogerRoger The only consolation is that it wasn't overly expensive. It was only $200. Obviously $200 isn't to us what it would be to a celebrity, but it would have been much worse if I bought the brand new one the person had for $400. Although in the end, if the drive does die sooner rather than later, obviously I would wish I would have spent the extra $200. It is what it is though.

Thanks for the tip. I will stop doing that for anything then, even on my PS5. I definitely don't need that one dying on me, especially since I like to go physical copies with as much as possible on there since most of the time you get the whole game on the disc (minus patches) since they are UHDs and with the great compression. My internet isn't the greatest, so that is a real blessing for playing games quickly.

Yeah, it did. Doesn't make me feel much better about it now, but once again, it is what it is. Sony did reverse their decision, but you are right that it is just a matter of time before they actually close the PS3 store for good. It's inevitable for all of them over time at some point. It's just how it works, but I would imagine you'd be able to download them afterwards like you can with Nintendo.

As for cost, yeah, digital will definitely be the way to go with some. I just have to figure out what at some point. Obviously I'll have to open up the wallet a bit to get Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions if I want to finally finish the game (I have no idea why I didn't back in the day) since that's long been delisted. I can get one used for no more than a new PS5 game. It's just a matter of finding a copy that isn't beat up.

@LN78 I can imagine. It's a shame, but we were always gonna be the first to see a connected generation fade into obscurity. I'm just grateful there was some pushback, and that plans were changed, so that lessons can be learned for when it's time to pull the plug on the PS4. Even though I'm certain that all my games are updated, I'll still be triple-checking the day after Sony make their next announcement.

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@KilloWertz For what you got, a couple hundred bucks sounds reasonable. Like you say, and like I said before as well, you made the right choice in the moment. You can't control what happens next; all you can do is keep your fingers crossed. I'll keep mine crossed for you, too.

No problemo. I'm the first to admit that I'm overly cautious with my consoles (no rest mode, let them do one thing at a time, etc.) but multiple techie friends have given me that disc drive tip over the years, even some of the more cavalier ones, so it's worth trying to keep in mind. The problem is that, thanks to the gradual creep of digital dominance, there have been multiple occasions where I've acted on autopilot and shut down with a disc still inside. Like you, I prefer physical, but it's just gonna happen. So long as it's only a couple of times, by accident, then I'm sure it won't do any lasting damage.

Sony are caught between a rock and a hard place. Keeping the ageing PS3 servers running must be costing them the GDP of a small island nation, but it's clear that people aren't ready for them to shut everything down for good. It's clear that they want the PS Vita to go at the same time, and that's got a much smaller install base, so they might use that as a test case. We'll see.

Oh blimey, my copy of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions was pretty pricey, yeah. It was used, but in decent condition, all things considered. I was gutted when I got into Spidey games and realised that almost all of them had been de-listed. It's cost me far too much money to build my collection, and I'm still missing one. Sometimes you get lucky, and a seller on eBay doesn't realise what they've got. It's worth the effort to track down. If it were rubbish, I'd warn you not to waste your time (and trust me, there are a fair few other Spidey games that I wish I hadn't bothered with) but Shattered Dimensions is one of my all-time favourite superhero games, and probably the highlight of Spidey's pre-Insomniac career. Good luck!

@RogerRoger For the condition the system looked on the outside, $200 was a steal. It seriously looks brand new outside of a few hairs and a bit of dust that was on it when I took it out of the box. The only real downside was the controller had something sticky on the side of it, and even after cleaning it, it's still not exactly great. I didn't want to clean it too thoroughly of course, as chemicals could break it obviously. I ended up buying another one off of eBay that's brand new for only $60 (counting shipping), which is sadly a steal nowadays. It came today, but I haven't checked it out yet.

While I do try to keep my consoles in as good condition as possible, I'm not quite that cautious. It seems to work for you, so nothing wrong with that obviously. I use Rest Mode, but only after people said it was ok after Sony seemed to fix it. I only use it if I'm downloading something overnight or I can't get to a save point and have to leave. As far as leaving a disc in a couple of times by accident, you should be fine.

Unfortunately in a sense, my gaming habits were a bit different back then. I also got into Blu-ray movie and TV watching after I got my original PS3 back in the day, so I didn't game quite as much as I do now. Despite Spider-Man being my favorite comic book character, Shattered Dimensions was the only one I played. I missed a ton of other games too, but that's another story. I'm not in a huge rush to get it yet as I won't play it anytime soon, but I will check eBay from time to time. I also seriously don't remember why I never finished it. I'm guessing I got stuck in a spot and then gave up, since back then YouTube wasn't an option for help.

@KilloWertz Impressive that you were able to source a brand new DualShock3 for its sticker price. Your horror story about the sticky controller reminds me of CEX, a chain of used game shops we have over here. Great for bargains, but only if you don't mind the fact that most of their stock has been through goodness only knows what, and should ideally be handled from within a hazmat suit.

You mentioned your slow internet connection before so absolutely, leaving your console in Rest Mode to download a game or large patch makes total sense. I'd probably do the same in your position. I've had more than a few evenings derailed by a lack of foresight to check for patches!

That's what happened to my original PS2; it got used as a DVD player almost as much as it did to play games, and the disc tray's motor quickly wore itself out. Despite hearing some negative things about slim models, I currently have a PS2 Slim and PS3 Super Slim because, after that incident, the idea of their manual disc trays appealed to me. In my head, it was just one less thing to break! Shattered Dimensions does have a few tricky spots, yeah. I don't think I needed a guide, but I was playing it on its easiest difficulty. I keep meaning to go back and try for its platinum and so, for that run, I'll definitely need YouTube.

If ever you feel like sharing the story behind missing those other games, I'd give it a read, for sure!

@RogerRoger Yeah, I was shocked. It isn't the first time I've seen them on there for around that price or a bit higher, but you never know if they are legit Sony controllers as they don't show many pictures. This one had several pictures of the packaging, so I knew I was good. As for the stickiness, I'm not sure what ended up getting on it. Maybe something spilled on it or something, but it was mainly on the one side when I got it and you could see something stuck on it. Cleaning it basically spread it all around the controller I guess, but it was still at last useable. I just knew I didn't want to use it long term.

Patches haven't really been an issue for me on the PS5 most of the time thankfully. From my experience, you can still play the game even when downloading the patch. I just close the game down when it's about to finish so it can install. I've had many surprises over the years on Xbox though, which is obviously annoying at times since you can't play the game on there when there's a patch. I guess their handling of patches is much different. I'm assuming Xbox installs as it goes and the PS5 installs after it's done downloading.

Until I got a more expensive Blu-ray player years down the line, I used the PS3 for everything. It was a beast, and I'd be shocked if it still didn't work today if I never sold it. Two days in a row now where the PS3 loaded a disc normally, so maybe it was just a flukey thing. I am putting the discs in standing right in front of the system now rather than from sitting down. Not sure if that would really make any difference, but so far so good regardless.

I use YouTube probably a bit more than I should have to for some games, but oh well. I'd be surprised if I didn't at some point during Shattered Dimensions. Whenever I do get it. A rare sealed copy was on eBay last night, but it went for at least $80 in the end. I'll just hope for the best with a used copy eventually.

Maybe someday. I have to wrap up this post for now, but the list is surprisingly fairly long if I'd go back and look up the PS3 catalog.

@KilloWertz Sounds like you found a trustworthy seller. I always bookmark those whenever I find them, as they're unfortunately a growing rarity on eBay!

Yeah, I see a lot of folks complain about the "copying" process on PS4 and PS5, but it's done to protect game data and build in that redundancy, so that you can play whilst downloading. I still won't do that, of course, but that's my own problem (as is my weird insistence on leaving some games installed, even though I haven't played them in yonks and am not planning to play them anytime soon, and yet still waiting for their patches and updates to install before playing anything else).

Great news! Fingers tightly crossed for your PS3's disc drive, after two days of working fine. With any luck, it was just settling down after the postal process jostled its components around a bit.

Funnily enough, the whole YouTube things has become part of the launch window joy for me. When I was blasting through LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga earlier in the year, I couldn't look anything up, as the game was so huge and nobody had made any video guides yet. It was oddly freeing, although also kinda frustrating when I couldn't find certain information and had to wait.

Hate to say it, but eighty bucks is very reasonable for a brand-new-and-sealed copy of Shattered Dimensions. It's still arguably way too much to spend on any game, but at least examples like that give some hope that, every now and again, you'll have a chance to grab a copy. When I went looking for both of the Amazing games, I could only find similar prices or higher, and it took a lot of saving to justify the expense. Even after enjoying both games, I felt really guilty about spending so much.

And fair enough! I'm just glad your PS3 is behaving itself for now, and that you're able to enjoy it. After all, time spent typing on here could be time spent playing, so don't let me keep you!

@RogerRoger It never really bothered me one way or the other on PS4. I don't really remember if I played a game if it had a patch on the PS4, or if I was used to it from Xbox that a patch meant don't play. It did make when it finally installed take longer than it should have, but that's irrelevant on the PS5 since almost everything loads so much faster. I'm definitely glad it's that way on the PS5, as there were multiple times I wouldn't have been able to play Horizon Forbidden West when I wanted to. We all have our quirks, so whatever you have to do.

Thanks. Yeah, I guess that's possible since it came all the way from Japan. I wish they didn't switch the X and the O buttons around, but that's another story.

Yeah, it was good in comparison to prices for used copies and how rare even new copies under $150 are, but I'm not spending that on any old game. For all the copies that are a disaster, there will be a decent one that I end up finding that will work just the same as a new copy.

Damn you, you kept me from playing again. Wait, I chose to come on here. Never mind.

@KilloWertz did you ever give that DS3 a proper clean?? I see you mentioned chemicals breaking it but it's probably worth giving it a try if you are not going to be using the controller anyway.

IPA is not bad for sticky stuff but normally just spreads it around until it's not noticeable. You can buy a product called Sticky Stuff Remover which will get rid of it (take the case off the controller and use it gingerly because it's pretty strong lol). Not sure of its effect on the plastic but it's gotta be worth trying if you are going to not use the controller at all because of the stickyness

Unfortunately the DS3 is constructed with glue which degrades, melts and causes swelling in the soft components. It sticks the analog stick grips down and I think there might be some inside the controller either holding down a wire or a pad or something. The DS3 construction is fairly complicated but thankfully not as bad as the DS4.

@ralphdibny No, I only tried water and soap when I got the PS3. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with that glue or not as I saw sticky spots on the outside of the controller when I got it. Now that I got a new DS3 controller, I'm not as worried about it. I may try that at some point, and thanks for the suggestions.

@KilloWertz Sorry to resurrect this topic after nearly a week away, but I have to ask, how come you ordered a PS3 from Japan? Was it just the best purchase option available? Is the swapping of Cross and Circle universal across all games, regardless of region?

@RogerRoger It was the best option. It was in really good condition judging by the pictures posted and was reasonably priced, so I went with that. I didn't think about the button swapping, but oh well I guess. They also kept the PS3 in production a lot longer in Japan than they did here in the US, so that's probably one big reason why there seemed to be a better selection of PS3s from Japan than the US. There's enough still circulating from around here, but not exactly in the best condition. I could have gotten ones from here if I didn't hesitate on buying one for a while, but oh well. If I remember correctly, it would have cost me more money.

The last question I can't answer yet as Final Fantasy XIII is the only game I've played on it so far. I can try a game from the Ratchet & Clank Collection or Infamous 2 at some point soon to see if it's just Japanese made games or all of them.

@KilloWertz Fair enough; thanks for answering! Was just curious how an import from the other side of the planet ended up being the best option, s'all. I didn't think about the PS3's longer production life in Japan, so that makes a lot of sense. Here's hoping the button-swapping doesn't translate to every game (one would hope it'd depend on the region of disc you're putting in the console, not the console itself) and that, when you get around to those other games, you don't have to rewire your brain too much!

@RogerRoger No problem, and agreed. The wiring in my brain is already all crossed up, so I don't need video games to mess it up even more.